This invention pertains to a ratcheting tool with spring-urged pawls and method, and, more particularly, it pertains to a ratcheting tool having a handle with a spring anchored thereto for actuating two pawls.
Ratcheting tools are well known in the prior art, and they are known to include pivotal pawls which are urged by a spring or springs into driving engagement with a gear. The pawls are known to be both slidably and pivotally movable into and out of gear engagement.
The present invention improves upon the prior art by stabilizing the spring which acts upon the pawl. That is, in the prior art, there is known a single for two pivotal pawls, but the spring is at least somewhat free to move or wander about its location which is otherwise intended to be the anchor for the spring relative to the tool or mechanism handle.
The present invention is particularly useful in ratcheting mechanisms having two pivotal pawls which are controlled by a spring. In that arrangement, it is important to anchor the spring so that its application of spring-force upon the pawls can be at optimum consistency and efficiency.
Therefore, the spring should be secured in a fixed position on the tool and not be susceptible to deviating from its intended anchored position. Again, compared to the arrangements of springs of the prior art, when those springs are forcing against a pawl, those springs can slide relative to their tool handles. That undesirable feature is particularly true where the spring is intended to be supported against a curved portion of the handle. The pawl force against the spring causes the spring to slide along that curved handle portion which is otherwise intended to fixedly anchor the spring and support it against wandering or sliding relative to the handle and the pawl.
In the present invention, there can be two pivotally mounted pawls and one spring for urging those two pawls into engagement with a gear. The spring is anchored in the tool handle to secure the spring against wandering even though the spring is under force against the pawls.
Also, that inventive concept can be applied by having a spring for one pawl, but, again, the spring would be anchored against wandering. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, there is a U-shaped spring with two ends in respective contact with two pawls, and the spring has an intermediate portion which is stabilized relative to the tool handle.
In the method aspect of this invention, the tool handle is provided with a slit and the spring is provided with an intermediate portion which matches the shape of the slit. The spring intermediate portion is positioned in the slit and the spring free ends extend into contact with two pawls for actuating the two pawls. In that operational arrangement, the spring is anchored relative to the tool handle and is held against wandering in the housing or handle.